The subject invention relates to a plastic optical fiber connector having a ferrule in intimate forcible contact with and about said plastic optical fiber. More particularly, the subject invention relates to a plastic optical fiber connector having specific dimensions and a terminal end portion of specific orientation.
There is a great deal of art in the field of connectors for optical fiber. However, problems still persist with the forming of these connectors or with malfunctions of the connector.
Early attempts to form a optical fiber connector were by connecting a ferrule to the optical fiber by adhesive. Such bonding often did not withstand the environment in which they were being used or failed for other reasons such as, for example, excessive assembly curing time, which represents a waste of time, labor and equipment.
Finishing of plastic optical fiber mounted in a connector has also been by hot plate or abrasive polishing. These methods have difficulty maintaining a flat surface. The quality of finish is dependent on operator skill and therefore is difficult to control. Most diamond machining of a flat surface is accomplished by fly cutting which produced chips and undesirable anomalies.
Other problems with heretofore connectors of this type resulted from improper butting of adjacent fibers to one another. This problem was caused by improper forming of the terminal end.
These heretofore utilized methods also required an undesirable expenditure of labor and required an undesirable level of skill.
It has been discovered that improvement in attaching the ferrule to the plastic optical fiber and developing a terminal end that is planar and oriented 90 degrees relative to the axis of the ferrule and plastic optical fiber is most important in constructing a reliable connector.
The present invention is directed to overcome one or more of the heretofore problems, as set forth above.
In one aspect of the invention, a connecter is provided which has a jacket, a plastic optical fiber and a ferrule. The plastic optical fiber has first and second end portions and is positioned within the jacket with said first end portion being free of said jacket. The ferrule has a stop. The ferrule is positioned about the first and second end portions with said ferrule in intimate forcible contact with and about said plastic optical fiber first end portion. The intimate contact extends over an axially measured length of said ferrule in a range of about 1 to about 3 times the diameter of the plastic optical fiber. The terminal end of said ferrule and associated plastic optical fiber first end portion is free of adhesive and is machined to a planar surface oriented 90 degrees relative to a longitudinal axis of the ferrule and plastic optical fiber first end portion.